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OpenLearn

China and the USA: cooperation or conflict?

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Overview

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PLEASE NOTE: This course will be closing soon and will be removed from OpenLearn on Monday 24 March 2025. Please make sure you have finished studying the course by then.  This free course explores the relationship between China and the United States and analyses whether China’s rapid rise will lead to greater cooperation or conflict with the US. The answer to this question will have profound implications for both countries and the wider international system. The course introduces some of the contemporary issues in China-US relations and provides historical background on the evolution of relations between the two countries. It introduces and applies some key ideas drawn from the discipline of International Relations relating to interdependence to assess the prospects for the future trajectory of relations between these two major powers.

Syllabus

  • Introduction
  • Learning outcomes
  • 1 China–United States in international history
  • 1 China–United States in international history
  • 1.1 Narratives of China’s rise
  • 1.2 The Chinese Imperial era
  • 1.3 China’s Past
  • 1.4 Western Advance
  • 1.5 The twentieth century
  • 1.6 Recapping history
  • 2 China and the United States in the twenty-first century
  • 2 China and the United States in the twenty-first century
  • 2.1 China: managing ‘peaceful rise’?
  • 2.2 Policy debates
  • 2.3 United States: constructive engagement?
  • 3 Analysing cooperation and conflict
  • 3 Analysing cooperation and conflict
  • 3.1 Interdependence, absolute and relative gains
  • 3.2 Assumptions
  • 3.3 Absolute gains
  • 3.4 Forms of interdependence: zero-sum, negative-sum and positive-sum games
  • 3.5 Picturing Interdependence
  • 3.6 Power
  • 3.7 Relative gains
  • 3.8 Zero-sum interactions
  • 3.9 Summing up
  • 4 Contemporary issues: strategic and military
  • 4 Contemporary issues: strategic and military
  • 4.1 The United States ‘pivot’ to Asia
  • 4.2 Catch-up and relative gains
  • 4.3 Troops and missiles
  • 4.4 Competing regional influence?
  • 4.5 Territorial disputes
  • 4.6 North Korea – potential shared interests?
  • 4.7 Taking stock
  • 5 Contemporary issues: economic relations
  • 5 Contemporary issues: economic relations
  • 5.1 A realm of cooperation?
  • 5.2 Competition in the wider world
  • 5.3 Cooperation and bargaining
  • 5.4 Side payments
  • 5.5 Resolving climate change
  • 6 Reviewing cooperation and conflict
  • 6 Reviewing cooperation and conflict
  • 6.1 Economy
  • 6.2 Military
  • 6.3 International order
  • Conclusion
  • Glossary
  • References
  • Acknowledgements

Reviews

4.8 rating at OpenLearn based on 8 ratings

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